The broadcaster Fox News paid almost 800 million dollars to a manufacturer of voting machines. The owners of the company made a very lucrative deal with it.
Investment firm Staple Street has an idiosyncratic portfolio. These include an operator of amusement parks, a dental service provider, a manufacturer of flavors and fragrances, a manufacturer of metal for aerospace and aerospace, a distributor of flower bulbs and a company that offers “solutions for the life cycle of electronic devices after purchase ” offers. The most lucrative investment so far, however, is a manufacturer of voting machines: Dominion Voting Systems.
Dominion had sued the conservative US television network Fox News and was paid $787.5 million in a settlement. The company had accused Fox of knowingly spreading the false claim that its voting machines had manipulated the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump. Trump still claims – without any evidence – that he actually won the elections and not Biden.
Staple Street joined Dominion in 2018 and paid $38.8 million for a 76 percent stake. That means the investor is entitled to a whopping $598.5 million from the settlement. That’s a return of more than 1400 percent.
According to its own information, Staple manages a total of 900 million US dollars. Originally, the New York company had demanded 1.6 billion in damages from Fox. The broadcaster described it as “completely exaggerated” and “outrageous”.
Second manufacturer wants billions from Fox
The investment firm could receive further payments in connection with the allegations of manipulation. In this context, Dominion is suing two conservative media outlets, Trump’s lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell.
After the 2020 presidential election, former New York Mayor Giuliani tried to use legal means to overturn the result, claiming that Trump was robbed of his victory over Biden as a result of vote-stealing organized by the Democratic Party. Shortly after the election, he caused a lot of conversation with two bizarre appearances in particular. On the one hand it was a press conference in front of the garage door of a garden center, on the other hand a 40-minute monologue with conspiracy theories, in which Giuliani talked himself into a rage and sweated in the light of the headlights. Dark color ran down his cheeks – probably traces of a dye or mascara.
Meanwhile, Fox has more legal trouble. A second dial-up technology maker, Smartmatic, is seeking $2.7 billion in court in New York State.